Nobody Said It Was Easy
by Princess Charly
Summary: It's nearly 2 years since the move to Evanston and the Bakers' life is one big catalogue of drama, with relationships, hatred, illness as well as some new arrivals across the road. Lots of fun, lots of tears. Please R&R, hope u like it!
1. Chapter 1

**Nobody said it was easy...**

Chapter 1 – The Bakers Again 

"Sarah, if you hit Jessica one more time, you will be in _big _trouble! Sarah?"

"What_ever_ Mom," was the snide reply. Kate Baker groaned and moved onto the next sinner.

"Jake, if you don't stop crashing out that urban junk at top volume you will be minus a hi-fi system. Hello-o, JAKE?"

"Take a chill pill, Kate." he moaned.

Kate stifled a scream.

"Look buddy, just turn down the music, and _don't_ call your mother Kate," Tom called from their bedroom. No reply.

"I can't cope, Tom. It's over two _years_ since we moved to Evanston, and they've gone totally haywire. I don't know what's going on, but-"

Tom put his arm around his wife's overrought back.

"It's not the move, Kate. Well I mean, it's them! They're growing up, finding themselves. It's a tough process."

"I know, I know, it's just, I wish they could be children forever, y'know?"

A little later on, all the Bakers were gathered at the table for supper.

"So," Kate mused, as she handed out the lemon-and-sugar pancakes, "anybody got any family news they'd like to tell us?"

There was a short silence as the children pondered this.

"Kimmy got an A- at school!" grinned Jessica. Kim kicked her.

"Thanks," she snarled, glaring, as the family giggled at this phenomenon. Jessica and Kim had never got below A in their lives. Kate predicted the general bad feeling that would ensue if the topic was kept up.

"Uh, OK, has... anybody _else_... got any news?"

More silence.

"I won ve mooosicy clawinet fingy at shkool an i won moooshic vaachers ter buy me moooshic booksh!"

Kate smiled wanly.

"That's great, Henry. But please don't talk with your mouth full, honey, you've, er, you've topped Lorraine's pancake with a whole load of chewed up pancake."

"ARGH, HENRY!" squealed Lorraine.

"Look, _sorry_, Barbie!" Henry groaned, following his apology with a loud burp.

"Yes, well, uh, any other news that _isn't_ going to result in a world war?"

Yet more silence...

"New people are moving in opposite," said Jake.

"Really?"

"Next to the Shenks?"

"Cool!"

"What are they like?"

"Where are they from?"

"I dunno," replied Jake to the shower of questions, "Dylan told me at school that the current people are moving out."

"Hopefully they'll be a little more like us," Tom put in, finishing his pancake in one large gobful.

"Is that likely," shuddered Lorraine, watching her father guzzle down Nigel's discarded pancake.

"Not really," said Sarah, rolling her eyes.

"It sucks, nobody round here knows how to loosen up," exclaimed Mike, unwittingly squeezing lemon juice all over the table cloth.

"Well we're not from round here, are we?" Kate said, quickly scooping the offending lemon from Mike's soggy hands and dropping it neatly into the bin.

"Well perhaps the new people will be from somewhere else, too?" Mark suggested.

"Unlikely," Jessica said, flicking her hair behind her shoulder and taking a small but hard bite out of Kim's pancake, "I think the percentage of people that move into Evanston from outside the Chicago area is pretty small."

"Well I think they'll be great," Kim finalised, pushing her plate away. Jessica tilted her head, raised her brows and looked at Kim.

"You think everyone's great, Kimmy." With that, Kim blushed and turned away towards Mark. Kate sensed the bad feeling brewing and quickly stood between it.

"Is everybody finished? Right guys, it's 9:30pm, Nigel, Kyle, Mike and Mark, you should be in bed. C'mon kids, hop it!"

The twins, Mike and Mark moaned as they traipsed up the stairs.

"It's _9:30_?" asked Sarah incredulously.

"Yuh, it sure is. Have you got homework to do then, sweetie?"

Sarah reddened.

"Yeah, somethin' like that." She dashed upstairs looking more than a little anxious.

Lorraine was sitting in her room, flicking through a magazine. After a few seconds, she tossed it aside and set upon making her hair _especially_ perfect. When it was, she turned back to her desk and struggled, tongue peeping out of her glitter-painted mouth, with her algebra homework. After a while, there was a knock on her door.

"Cm'in," she mumbled, scribbling out question 4H for the 11th time. Sarah appeared in the doorway, looking a little sheepish.

"Lorraine?"

"Yeeeaaah?"

"Um, could you... no, don't worry, doesn't matter," she muttered, retreating out of her sister's room.

"Hey hey hey hey _hey!_" called Lorraine, only too happy to have a distraction from her miserable maths homework. "What is it? What do you want?"

"I was wondering, well..." Sarah hushed her voice, "I was wondering if you could, well, y'know, just temporarily, y'understand, just lend me, uh, some lipgloss?"

"WHAT?"

"You heard."

"Are you on pills, or something, Sarah?" Lorraine laughed, then catching a glimpse of Sarah's angry red-tinted face, stopped laughing gradually.

"Are you serious? Well, uh, OK, glad to see you've converted!" Sarah smiled sarcastically.

"See Sarah, it all depends on what impression you're trying to give. Shimmer is party queen, clear is casual, dark is sombre and sophisticated. What's the occasion?"

"Never mind."

"Ooooh, you've got a date, haven't you?"

"_NO!_"

"Sarah you're 15 years old, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not 15 for 3 weeks, Lorraine, and I've not got a date with some Evanston preppy asshole!"

"Wooo-hooh! Sarah's dropped the boyish lacrosse lady style at _last_!" yelled Lorraine, "SHE'S GOING OUT WITH DYLAN!"

"You _bitch_, Barbie!" shrieked Sarah, grabbing a strand of blonde hair and wrenching it tight with her iron grip. "I hate you!" she bellowed, before letting go abruptly and running out of the door.

"Fine!" yelled Lorranie, extremely tearful, "FINE! SEE IF I CARE! AND TAKE YOU DARNED STUPID LIPGLOSS! _USE IT WELL! YOU SURE NEED IT!"_ A lipgloss flew niftily into Sarah's hands, a door slammed and Kate and Tom rolled their eyes at each other.

"Just ignore it," sighed Tom, "It's just Lorraine and Sarah having yet _another _catfight."

Back in her room, Sarah stripped off her polo shirt and cut-offs, and wriggled into one of Lorraine's old bra and knicker combos from many aeons ago. Then she squeezed into one of Kim's pink t-shirts and pulled on a tight black cardigan, and pulled on a denim skirt pinched from Jessica that came above her knee. Shoving her baby blue Phat Farms onto her feet, she brushed her hair swiftly and glided on the gloss that Lorraine had just hurled at her, thanking her lucky stars that she was small made and could therefore fit into her 13 year old twin sisters' clothes.

"I look like _Barbie_, she whispered to herself, as she crept into Jake's room.

"Jakey," she whispered.

"What?" he grunted from his pillow.

"_Jakey_," she hissed again, and this time he looked up. His jaw hit the floor.

"What the freakin hell-" he gasped, loudly.

"Shut UP! Jake, yeah, I know, I look like Lorraine, whatever. Just, please, I need you to cover for me, 'kay?"

"_Why?_" he whispered, still shocked beyond belief.

"No time to explain," she whispered, "I'm meeting friends, I need you to lock my bathroom and tell Mom I had a bad stomach. I'll be back around one."

"ONE? Sarah, what are you playing at?"

"Nothing, Jake. Stop giving me a hard time! I'll be back, just, do it, OK?"

With that, Sarah crept back out of Jake's room and disappeared down the corridor. Jake was just going to stop her, but as soon as he set foot out of his room, he saw a flash of brown hair fly up against the window, and heard a quiet clunk as Sarah jumped off her landing trash can and scuttled off down the street. Worried, but helpless, he slouched back to his room and turned up Blink 182 a little louder...

**_WHAT DO YOU THINK? PLEASE R&R TO LET ME KNOW! BIG STORYLINES COMING UP!_**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, baby," said a voice. A male voice. Alex's voice. Sarah spun around from the Starbuck's counter she'd been waiting at for nearly 15 minutes and smiled up at the 17-year-old boy standing by her.

"Hey," she whispered, her heart going at a thousand miles per hour.

"What do you want," Alex asked in his low, manly, smooth rasp. Sarah giggled girlishly.

"I'll have a frappé, thanks," she said, blushing. Alex smiled down at her.

"Fruity," he murmured sexily, before turning back to the counter and ordered two orange frappés.

When they had both finished their drinks, and spoken for a while, Alex looked at Sarah deeply.

"I just _love_ your dark, sparkling eyes, Sarah. They're _such_ a turn-on."

Sarah smiled, but she felt awkward. Inside, she scolded herself for feeling that way. _Why am I so childish and frigid?_, she asked herself.

"You OK?"

"I'm fine," Sarah replied, still slightly uneasy, "fine."

Meanwhile, at the house, Jake was lying in bed, listening to his music, hoping that Sarah was OK.

"SARAH?" called Kate's voice from downstairs. Jake's heart leaped. He heard footsteps and his door opening.

"Jake honey, is Sarah in her room? She left her clean bedlinen downstairs. I know it's nearly twelve at night, but I just thought-"

Deep down, Jake wanted nothing more than to burst out that Sarah wasn't here and had gone out dressed like Lorraine and he was terrified for her, but he couldn't betray Sarah like that.

"She's got, uh, a sour stomach, Mom, she's in the loo. If I were you I'd just tell her you've got the bedsheets and leave them by the door."

"Oh, well, OK then. Does she need any help?"

"No," snapped Jake, quickly, "no, she's good." Kate nodded and informed the absent Sarah about the clean sheets, then went back to her room...

"So," smarmed Alex, stroking Sarah's face, a few blocks from the Baker house.

"So," she whispered.

"I guess you're wanted back home now."

"Uh-huh."

"So I'll see you soon, babe." Sarah looked up, and before she had a chance to speak, she felt his lips pulsing against hers, fast and passionate. His tongue slid inside her mouth. _'Gotta do something'_, she told herself, moving hers to meet his. Soon, they were apart. Alex grinned, then walked off into the darkness. Sarah turned towards her block, her head spinning, a thousand different emotions racing through her head. When at last she got home, she climbed onto another trash can, stumbling in her giddiness, and leaned up to knock on Jake's window.

"J-Jake!" she hissed. Jake woke up, and hurriedly opened the window, dragging his sister through it. Sarah bounced onto the bed next to her brother.

"Sarah?" Jake questioned, looking at her lipgloss smeared mouth, suspiciously.

"Yuh," she said quietly, looking down and going red for the umpteenth time that day.

"Sarah I know what you've been doing. You just went out to see a guy, didn't you." Sarah glared at Jake.

"So what if I did. You're my KID BROTHER, Jake, just keep away, I can look after myself. Anyone, it's one, I promised I'd be back now. So just go back to sleep." Sarah walked out of the room and tiptoed into hers, taking off the clothes, slipping on her pyjamas and throwing the clothes under her bed. Then she tucked under the sheets, wiped off the tell-tale lipgloss smears and lay there, playing the kiss over and over and over again...

"BREAKFAST!" called Tom, the next morning. Jake got out of his room and watched Sarah, Nigel, Mike and Kim pound down the stairs, laughing and yelling. Jake smiled, at least Sarah hadn't been, _affected_, by last night. She was still good old Sarah.

When everyone was downstairs at the table, Kate leaned over, kissed Tom, and handed out the breakfast.

"Charlie called from college," Tom announced, "he wants us all to go see his big game on Sunday!"

"Cool!" replied Henry, buttering Kim and Jessica's toast.

When everyone had consumed their breakfast, Kate and Tom went through the usual fiasco of sorting out everybody's school transport arrangements.

"Lorraine, you take Sarah and Jake to school, then you and Henry can go to High School, and Tom, you take the rest."

When everyone was gone, Kate lay back on the comforting maroon sofa and sipped her tea, enjoying the oasis of calm she now inhabited. For an hour or so, anyway.

BRRRING BRRRRING!

"Grrreat," Kate muttered, placing the coffee down heavily on the coaster, and picking up the phone.

"Hello, Kate Baker?"

"Mom..." snivelled a voice.

"Nora?"

"Mom, can I come over, please?"

"Sure, um, what is it, you don't sound so good."

"You'll kill me..."

"Why, what is it? Please honey, just tell me."

"I'll be right over, Mom-"

'Beeeeeeeeeep'

Kate looked at the phone, puzzled, before replacing it, then waited for her eldest daughter to appear.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a familiar knock at the door. There was Nora, dressed in smart cream trousers, and, in contrast, a blue t-shirt. Her face was pale, she had rings under her eyes, and her hair was flipped carelessly out of her face.

"Baby," soothed Kate, hugging her tearful daughter, "you look terrible. What is it?"

Nora wiped her eyes nervously.

"Mom..." she began, unsteadily. "Mom, I'm going to have a baby..."

After she had got over the initial shock, Kate took Nora's arm gently.

"You should sit down."

Once they both were, Kate took a gulp of coffee and gazed at Nora, who was gazing at the floor.

"How did this happen, Nora?"

"Mom, I didn't want a baby, I didn't even want to, y'know, I just... Well Hank got burgled, and-"

"HANK!"

"Mom, please! Anyway, I-I went over to help him, he was in a pretty bad way, shaking and everything, 'cause the robber had threatened him with GBH, y'know. I know we're hardly best friends any more, but I just guessed it was my duty. I hugged him, and told him it would be OK, then... well Mom please I hope you'll understand but all my old love for him came flooding back and we kissed and then we oh my God it's awful please you know what I mean Mom, Mom?"

"Nora dear, stop gabbling, I understand. So this was a few weeks back, right?"

"Right," Nora choked.

"I think you should stay here a while, just to sort things out. I won't pretend I'm not angry, but you're 24 years old, not 14, and I realise this wasn't intended. I couldn't very well turn you away, could I. So you run back to your apartment and collect some things, then lock up and come back over here. OK?"

Nora agreed, then slipped back out of the front door. Kate sat down heavily, and put her hand on her forehead. This was too much for one morning!

That afternoon, after a tale about Nora being 'unwell' being spun for the kids, there was a very loud rumbling sound out front. Mark went to investigate.

"EVERYBODY!" he called, "New people are here!"

A loud stampede later and all the Bakers (apart from absent Charlie) were gathered at the window in the front room.

"I don't see anybody," said Kim, "only furniture, and removal men."

"They're probably already inside," retorted Lorraine.

"Shall we go over, say hello?" asked Tom. Kate paused, remembering the disaster that had resulted when the Shenks had come and greeted them for the first time.

"Why not?" she asked, smiling through (slightly) gritted teeth.

"I'll come!" called Jessica.

"Me too," Kim yelled.

And so a few minutes later, Tom, Kate, Kim and Jessica were congregated outside the big house opposite. The door opened, and a pleasant looking man in his early 40s or so stood at the door.

"Hello," he said, " you must be the people who live opposite, right?"

"Right," grinned Tom. Then a woman came to the door, dressed in Ralph Lauren jeans, and a tight silky cardigan. She smoothed her honey-coloured hair, licked her lips and came to stand by her husband.

"Oh, hi! Lovely to meet you. I'm Lorna, Lorna Kershaw, and this is my husband Jack. And, you are?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Kate, Kate Baker, my husband, Tom, and this is Jessica and Kim."

"Two little girls, how lovely," Lorna mused, patting her hair into place.

"Uh, well, actually, we have 12 kids. 5 girls, 7 boys. They're at home."

Tom grinned at the astounded Kershaws.

"Ranging in age from 6 to 24."

"Wow," smiled Jack, "that's a lot of kids!"

"Sure is," Lorna put in.

"So, uh, do you live alone, you two?" enquired Kate.

"No," replied Jack, "we've got kids. Two. A girl, and a boy. Wait a second... _STEPHANIE? SIMON? COME DOWN AND SAY HELLO!_"

There was a short silence.

"To who?" called a a deep, sort of husky, but nevertheless childish boy's voice grumpily from upstairs.

"To some people from opposite," called Lorna. Jessica and Kim glanced at each other as they heard feet come downstairs. When they arrived, Lorna ruffled the boy's spikey hair and grinned.

"Simon's 13 and Stephanie's 14, aren't you, darlings?"

Simon was quite short, with wide apart blue eyes, spikey, honey coloured, blondey-brown hair, and one raised eyebrow, as though he were scorning of everything around him. He dressed pretty much like Jake, in skate clothes. Stephanie was taller, a little slimmer, but inevitably, curvier, with longish golden hair, and blue eyes. She wore a chocolate brown cropped cardigan, a pink vest top, a dark denim mini skirt, and high-heeled sandals were slipped on her feet.

Both the kids had the same unimpressed expressions on their faces.

"Simon baby," cooed Lorna patronizingly, "uncross your arms, and Stefi, hand off your hip. It's not polite."

The children obeyed reluctantly.

"Well," said Tom at last, a little embarrassed, "come over any time, uh, it was really nice meeting you, welcome to the neighbourhood!"

"Yeah," smiled Jack, "sure is different back home, huh?"

He got a brief 'you're-so-dumb' glance from both kids, then turned back to the Bakers.

"I'm from New York, Lorna's from Alabama, the kisd were born in Texas, then, when they were 6, 7ish, we moved to New York, then last year we went to Alabama for family reasons. Anyway, yeah, it was great meeting you," he finished.

"You too," simpered Jessica and Kim.

"Bye!"

Back at the Baker house, it was all questions for Jessica and Kim.

"Well, what were they like?"

"Do they have kids?"

"Are they nice?"

"Well," began Kim, "the guy, Jack, he seemed nice. His wife Lorna was OK, but she seemed kinda, you know, vain?"

With that, Jessica gave a remarkably accurate impression of the hair-flick lip-lick routine, much to the amusement of the others.

"Did they have kids?"

"I'm getting to that part, Kyle!" she snapped. "Yeah, they do. Stephanie and Simon. They both seemed pretty full of themselves. They looked as though everything around them was really dumb and pointless. They're, like, 13 and 14? The girl was pretty and girlishly dressed, the boy dressed kinda like Jake. He was pretty cute," she admitted coyly, blushing a little.

"Are ya gonna make friends with them then?" Nora asked, wrapped in a duvet having just taken Kate's advice and taken a good long sleep to aid the worry.

"We could try, but it would be easier if they weren't so up their own arses," snorted Sarah.

"I don't know, it seemed like there was more to it than that," mused Kim. Mike laughed.

"You really do see the best in everyone, don't you Kimmy?"

_**Hope you liked it, lots more action coming soon! xxx**_


	3. Chapter 3

Nora emerged from the clinic, looking a little fazed.

"Five weeks, to the day," she said. Kate saw how shaken Nora looked and put an arm around her.

"Are you OK, dear?"

Nora looked at Kate, and tears began to stream steadily down her face.

"They asked me if I wanted to keep it or kill it," she mumbled, sniffing hard.

"Kill it? That's a pretty morbid way of putting it, honey," Kate said softly, as they both got into the car.

"Well it's the reality, Mom. And now that _my_ reality's so pissed up, I don't see why I shouldn't just accept things for what they are, however much it hurts."

Kate watched sadly as her eldest daughter angrily shut the seatbelt into place.

"Well what do you want to do, Nora? I mean, I know you were anti-abortion as a younger girl, but-"

"Well I still am," Nora retorted, "I can't make an exception for myself Mom. It's a little person, growing inside me, I-I-I'd feel l-like a murdererrrrr..." Nora tailed off, crying, and put her head in her hands.

"Nora baby?"

"Y-yeah?"

"You gotta talk to Hank."

"You're a retard, Barbie!"

"Am _not_, Chubby!"

"You are, you can't even do Jake's math homework!"

"She can't even do _Mike's_ math homework," laughed Jessica as she watched the latest argument heighten, this time between Henry and Lorraine.

"Shut up, carrot-head," hissed Lorraine. Jessica shrugged and walked away.

"I'll deal with _you_ later," she snarled at Henry, disappearing back into her palace of mascara and chick-flick DVDs.

"Sure, I'll see ya then, if you can actually remember my_ name_," he snorted.

Sarah was sitting in her room, rethreading her lacrosse stick net. There was a knock at her door.

"Come in, unless it's Lorraine, Dad or Kyle," she murmured.

"Guess again," laughed Jake, entering.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow your 2002 compilation CD?"

"Sure," said Sarah, not looking up from the mangled pile of string she had been fiddling with for quite some time. "Wait..." she suddenly blurted out. Jake stopped with his hand in mid air. "One one condition..." she said, testily.

"What? It's just a CD!"

"Well, you'll proabably say no 'cause you're such a totally goody-two-shoes when it comes to this, but, could you-"

"Cover for you again?"

"Yuh, dude!"

"No WAY!" Jake snapped, "not again. I'm pretty sure Mom was getting suspicious anyway, she won't believe you've eaten rotten food again, 'speshly if we _all ate the same thing!_"

"Oh come _on_ Jake, don't be so stupid!"

"No!"

"Fine," snarled Sarah, "don't cover for me, tell Mom! But if you do, you'll have wasted your breath. She'll never find me. And I'll be gone a long, long time."

With that, Sarah dashed out of the room angrily. Jake glared at her retreating back, and tried to think out a way he could get around this one.

Knock knock.

"C'min," he mumbled angrily. A red headed person peeped through the door.

"It's Mark, are you OK?"

"I'm great thanks, and you?"

"You know what I mean. I meant, well, Sarah looked really angry, I thought you two may have fought, and maybe I could help?"

Jake couldn't help but melt at this.

"Thanks buddy, but there isn't anything you can do. Really."

"Hey, do you wanna go over the road and ask those kids if they wanna hang out here?"

"OK then," Jake said, getting off his bed, just glad of a distraction from Sarah's love-life mess that she was using him as a puppet in. He wanted to believe he _would_ tell Kate, but he knew deep down that if he _was_ put in that situation, he'd find himself covering for her, time after time. But he looked out of the window at the sunshine, and smiled excitedly at Mark. It would probably be fun meeting these new kids, at least it would be something to do.

"What are the kids up to?" enquired Tom.

"Well Lorraine's studying, her fashion magazines, happily as a sandboy, Henry's practising his clarinet, hence the uh, background music, Jake's hanging out with Mark, Sarah's in the garden with Jessica and Mike, Nigel's practising his football in the garden with them..."

"What about Kim?"

"Oh, she's in her room again, moping."

"Is she OK? She's always fine in the daytime."

"I hope so, Tom. I think she's just feeling a little hormonal at the moment."

"Yeah, that's probably it."

To be honest, they were right, and they were wrong. Kim's hormones were in a total maelstrom, true, but there were more sinister things going on in her head. She had been crying into her pillow for half an hour, then she had written a funny little four-line poem about death. All she could think about was Jessica, being better than her, being prettier, cleverer, more popular than her. It made her sick. She couldn't resist thinking what it would be like if Jessica died. Whether she'd be accepted, or just be 'darling departed Jessica's ugly twin'.

Then she suddenly realised how twisted that thought really was.

"What kind of a freak am I?" she spat at herself, picking up a pencil and jabbing it just below her wrist, as though as a punishment.

"_Ow!_" she drew in her breath sharply. That had really hurt. And yet, it felt good. When her arm hurt, her thoughts were tugged away from the sick, morbid things she had just thought about. She jabbed the pencil in again, this time a little harder. Tears flew into her eyes, but she felt happy, in the weirdest possible way. A sick thrill pulsated through, her adrenalin soaring across her body. Almost as though it were a reflex, she dashed downstairs, grabbed a sharp knife, and before she knew it, she was back up in her room, it was against her wrist.

"What if I kill myself?" she thought. Then took a look at the knife. "_I'll do it gently..."_ she whispered.

It stung like crazy. She heard Kyle and Mike laughing and shouting outside. What would they think if they knew that their older sister was drawing blood from her arms inside?

"_Just do it Kim,_" said the voice within. And she did. Three times,without stopping to let the pain seep in. When the blood started to ebb in, so did the pain. Putting her hand over her lips to stifle a yell, she ran into the bathroom, ran her arm under the tap for a few minutes, then pushed an old cloth against her sore excuse of an arm.

When it stopped bleeding, she took a look at the three slashes on her arm. And, unable to help it, she felt proud.

Jake looked at his G-Shock at night. It was nearly quarter to eleven. Damn. Sarah would have gone. He sat in his room, trying to focus on his fun day with his younger siblings (him and Mark had been unable to get hold of the new kids), but all he could think of was Sarah. What if she was hurt. Or ill? Or lost? He knew he was being stupid, she was just loved up with some spotty kid in some café or other, well, he thought she was. But what if she wasn't, what if...

Unable to think anymore, Jake closed his eyes, and fell straight to sleep...

"Jake! _Jake_! Wake up, I'm back!"

Jake awoke to his sister shaking him firmly.

"What time is it, Sarah?" No answer. Jake looked at the clock.

"Sarah, it's quarter to 4!"

"Really. Whoa, time flies, huh?"

"Sarah, this isn't funny, where have you been?"

"With Alex. My boyfriend. Of c-course."

"You OK, Sarah?"

"I'm great. Why?"

Jake was quiet. He had suspicions, but this was going to be painful and embarrassing to ask. _Best do it quick_, he thought.

"Sarah, are you having sex?"

Sarah looked furious.

"No! Jake, I'm not! I swear! Just, oh why don't you just _bloody_ leave me alone! I'm fine!"

Once again, she turned to go out of the room.

"Sarah just be CAREFUL, that's all I'm saying!" called Jake into the darkness. During that short conversation, the lights had been off, seeing as Sarah had not bothered to turn them on. But even without being able to see her face, he could sense her tension, and he made up his mind that he wouldn't cover for her like this anymore.

Hope you like it. I know the Kim part is a bit morbid, but it's all part of the tapestry of their life, and everything gets better, trust me! PLease R&R!


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah woke up. Immediately, she remembered her night with Alex. He had seemed a little close for comfort, but then that was good, wasn't it? After playing his voice in her head several times, she suddenly remembered Jake, guiltily. She knew in her heart she wasn't being fair, that she was putting Jake through worry and pain. But she couldn't lose a guy just because her 14-year-old brother was anxious about her going out. That was it, next time she wanted to go out, she wouldn't _tell_ Jake, that way, she'd still be able to see Alex, but she wouldn't be putting Jake through any concern. Sarah got up, and put on her pale blue Quiksilver hoody and her cropped jeans, then padded downstairs.

Kim woke up. She looked around at her cream walls, and at Jessica, who had her thumb firmly planted in her mouth. Despite the stinging in her arms, she giggled, Jessica had been insisting for 3 years that she didn't suck her thumb. Kim stretched, took off her pyjamas and pulled on her T-shirt and jeans, then remembered... the marks on her arms. Oh _why_ did she always have to buy short-sleeved ones? _Because I didn't used to be a self-harming psycho,_ she whispered to herself, before rooting right to the back of her draw and pulling out a long-sleeved top, putting it on, and pulling the sleeves down, right over her thumbs. Then she went downstairs.

"Right, is everybody down?"

"Uh-huh, think so."

"What about Mike? He's still upstairs."

"Mo-om!" called a voice from upstairs.

"Yes Mike?"

"Where's my medication?"

"I don't know honey! Oh God, has anyone seen his medication? Jessica, go help him find it sweety."

Jessica obeyed. While the others ate their breakfast, Kate questioned them.

"Are all of you certain that you haven't seen his medication?"

"Yes," the others chorused amidst the sea of toast on the table.

"Oh God," murmured Kate. At that moment, Jessica and Mike reappeared at the kitchen door.

"It's nowhere to be found, Mom," she admitted, nervously.

"Right, well you can't go to school then, Mikey, you're gonna have to stay home with Dad while I drop the others at school, then drop into the drug store."

"Why does he have to be doopervised?" asked Kyle.

"He has to be _supervised_," answered Henry, "'cause if he has a fit, he needs someone to help him, or he'll _die._"

"Henry, don't be so horrible!" scolded Kate, catching a glimpse of Mike's worried face. Then-

"Kaaaaaate!"

"Yes Tom? Why don't you come downstairs, they've all finished breakfast now!"

"Kate, I need a bucket! I don't think that greasy Chinese junk at Jessop's last night agreed with me!"

Kate groaned, and sunk her head into her hands.

"Oh Lord. OK, change of plan. Nora, you'll have to stay home from doing drop-offs and look after Mike. And _I'll_ have to do _all_ the drop-offs."

"'Kay. Sorry Mom," replied Nora, ushering Mike through. "Come on Mike, you'd better sit down."

"I'm _fine_!" protested Mike, as he was dragged into the living room.

"Right," Kate said, hoping to lift the mood a little, "let's get going, people!"

"I'm home!" called Kate, as she walked into the living room with rain-saturated hair and a box of tablets. "Dad still in bed?"

"Yeah," said Nora.

"Is Mike OK?"

"I think he's pretty much OK... but he had 2 absences while you were out, and... oh, here we go... Mike! _MIKEY!"_

Kate waved a hand in front of her son's face. He was sitting back against the sofa, staring into space, is eyes glazed over.

"Oh no!" squealed Kate, "He hadn't even had absences since we put him on this medication."

"Oh," said a voice, "hey Mom. Where'd you come from?"

"Ssssh, baby, it's OK," Kate crooned, stroking her son's boiling forehead.

"Nora, can I have some water?"

"Sure."

"Right then Mike, you just swallow one of these with the water Nora got you."

Mike did so.

"Can I go to school now?"

"Weeeell, no, I wanna keep an eye on you, you seem a little... worse for wear."

"Don't worry, I'll look after him for you," offered Nora.

"Oh, would you? Thanks honey, you're a star!"

That afternoon, when Mike was better and everyone was back from school, Sarah had a suggestion.

"Why don't we go over to the new people?" she pondered.

"Yeah," said Mark.

And so that was that. Jake, Sarah and Kim went opposite. Stephanie was at the door. Kim remembered Jessica's frighteningly good impression of the mother and smothered a smirk.

"Oh, hey," Stephanie said.

"Hey," replied Jake, "we were wondering if you wanted to come over and hang out?"

"Whatever, OK. Simon," she called, "you wanna go over opposite?"

"Fine, alright," was the response, and they all went over the road.

"So where are you from?" asked Jake, as they all went into the garden.

"Well, we were born in Texas, then when we were 6 and 7 we came to New York, then when Mom's mom died last year, we went to be with her husband," Stephanie answered.

"So, kinda New York then?" asked Kim.

"Depends how you look at it," Simon said. "I'd say New York."

There was an awkward silence.

"Your parents seemed nice," put in Jessica.

Stephanie smiled sarcastically.

"Whatever. They're OK."

Simon's phone went off.

"What _is_ it Mom?" he answered huffily. "For God's sake why? That is _so_ moronic, in fact- I don't _care_ if you don't have time for any of my 'theories', you-"

The person on the other end hung up.

"We'd better go and see what the silly bitch wants," muttered Stephanie. "See ya."

Kim had, as usual, been alright in the day. She hadn't exactly been in high spirits, but nobody would have noticed taht there was anything wrong.

But at ten o' clock at night, when everything was kicking in once more, things were getting worse for Kim, much worse. Taking the knife out from her clothes draw, she positioned it against her arm, spurred on only by her sudden, second bout of unexplainable fury at Jessica. Then, she remembered how visible her wrist marks were. She couldn't make them _more_ obvious, everyone would see unless she pulled her cuffs down 24/7.

Reluctantly, she tugged down her skirt, down past her belly button, right down past her groin. It would sting more down here, but...

The slit wasn't very big, but it hurt as though she'd swished a lighter across it. JUst as she was about to drown out her doubts by doing it again...

"Aah!" laughed Jessica, bursting into the room, "If Jake comes in here tell him I'm in Mark's room... _Kim?_"

Jessica took a look at Kim, who had frozen in her position.

"Kimmy," gulped Jessica, "what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Kim replied, whispering for some reason.

"Don't make me laugh, Kim. What-are-you-_doing?_"

Jessica was scared, really scared. Her voice, on the other hand, was, whilst being shaky, also somewhat vicious. She looked at Kim. Kim had the same look in her eye as Mike did when he was having an Epileptic fit.

"Kim!" she yelled. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing? Are you blind? Can't you see? Now go away and leave me alone!"

"What are you, crazy? You're sick, Kim, you need help! I'm not leaving you here to kill yourself!"

"I'm not killing myself, I'm, I'm, I'm channeling my anger!"

"Anger at _what?_"

"At YOU, Jessica! At you, with your pretty face, quicksilver brains! Why do you have to rub it in my face all the time?"

"I don't," cried Jessica, tears gushing down her face, her voice starting to choke, "All _you _ever do is try and prove to me how you're better!" Jessica leaned over, snatched the knife, and threw it at the skirting board. "For _two years_, all I could think about was how you were better than me, in every way! All I could think about, was that, and how we used to be one out of the two pairs of h-happy Baker twins. And you have the balls to tell me that it's _y-you_ who feels inadequate?"

"Well I do!" shrieked Kim, "And it's all I've ever thought about for two years, y'know, I just wish you hadn't walked in on me when you did! I hate you, Jessica, you just don't understand!"

"Yes," whispered Jessica, her crying ceasing, "I do."

Kim looked up at Jessica, and at that moment realised, she DID understand.

"I'm sorry," she said, sobbing, "I'm really sorry." Both of them were crying openly now, wailing almost, then they caught each other's eye, grinned impishly, then burst out laughing. They were squealing with mirth for ages, then Jessica wiped her eyes.

"You are _such_ a mess, Kimmy," she said. "Why didn't you tell me you felt so shitty, huh?"

"Dunno, 'cause I hated you."

Jessica flinched at this, then, sensing Kim's regret, smiled.

"Take a warm bath, then come downstairs," she said quietly, "I won't tell anyone."

"OK."

Jessica went out, and Kim smiled, a _huge_ weight lifted off her mind. She couldn't believe she could be so, _weird._ But it was over now.

"_Best run that bath,"_ she whispered to herself.

_**WHAT DO YOU THINK, TOLD YOU I'D SORT IT OUT! LOTS MORE COMING, U HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF THE DRAMA! XXX**_


	5. Chapter 5

"Moooom," began Nora, through a mouthful of meatloaf, "what are we going to tell everybody?"

"How d'you mean?"

"We can't tell them I'm I'll forever, can we? I'll start to show soon."

Kate contemplated this a little.

"We're gonna have to tell them the truth, aren't we?"

"What, even about Hank?"

"Well... yes. Have you even spoken to Hank, Nora?"

"Uuuuuh, yeah! Sort of! Well, not really... no."

"Oh, _Nora!_ You really have to. C'mon honey, go now!"

"Now?"

"Now. At least it will be all over and done with, right?"

Nora pulled her faux fur jacket reluctantly over her shoulders.

"Right," she sighed, as she slunk out of the door.

"Hey."

"Hey, said Hank, looking up from his guitar. "You OK? What you doing here?"

"I've, I've got something kinda... important, to tell you."

"Oh," moaned Hank, "don't worry honey, I know about the new Tommy Max ad being cut. It's OK, I'm getting over it, slowly."

"_NO_, Hank!" snapped Nora, "this is something much more important! More than any stupid commercial! I-"

"What?" persisted Hank, "what?"

"Hank," began Nora, grasping all her courage between her teeth, "I'm pregnant."

After a very, _very_ long silence, Hank finally spoke.

"Oh... God," he breathed.

"Hank," Nora said, firmly, "I know that you value you your party lifestyle, and don't think I don't value my independence, and I did NOT want to get pregnant, especially by you, but I need to know whether you are in the _least_ bit interested in being around for this kid, alright?"

"Right," croaked Hank, staring at his guitar. "Right. Well, Nora, this is all, kinda, y'know, WEIRD for me, and –"

"Oh, so it's not weird for ME?"

"I'm not saying that, babe, calm down. I just, I just, I just don't know what to say, you get me?"

"Hank, I need to know! I'm not saying you have to be with me and look after it all day, I just want to know if this kid can have someone called 'Daddy' that it can go and visit from time to time? Hank?"

Nora looked at Hank, pleadingly, and he melted.

"Nora, I'll be there. Right? Now you know, I'll be there. If I've got a kid, I can't, can't, y'know, _escape_ that, and-"

Nora saw tears in Hank's eyes, for the first time since he got the bill for the paint job that the garage had presented him with after a certain disastrous visit to the Baker house.

"C'mere," she whispered, and hugged him again. "Listen, I gotta, um, go, but I'll get back to you on this, obviously. OK, see you."

Nora walked out of the apartment, into the elevator, then out into the street. For some reason, she felt totally liberated, despite being unable to get her head around the fact that she was with child. In a childish way, she couldn't wait to tell Kate what had happened.

Nora came back in the door quietly. Kate rushed over to her.

"How d'it go?"

"He was great," Nora answered quietly, unable to hide a smile, "for him. He said he'd be there."

"Well, that really is good, sweetie. Just be careful, you know what he's like."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just happy, I expected him to look at me as though I was some kinda untouchable and throw me out of the flat."

Kate smiled.

"You're lucky, then."

"Suppose I am."

"I think they're OK."

"They are _not_! The girl's a bitch and the boy's a bastard, Mark!"

"Sarah, that is _so_ harsh!" replied Mark. The latest debate was about the pleasantness of Simon and Stephanie. Sarah was in favour of the motion to ignore them.

"If we're nasty to them, they'll be fifty times worse to us. They look like they could be pretty frosty, what's the point? We'll lose!"

"Whatever," Sarah muttered.

"Hey," Kim put in, passing, "have you noticed that their Dad's at work for days on end, and their Mom's never in, always shopping? I reckon that's why they're like that."

"Just because you have parents that ignore you and leave you to fend for yourself, doesn't mean you have to be a little smartmouthed brat!"

"They can't help being clever!"

It was true, Simon and Stephanie were, in fact, just as clever as Jessica and Kim, whose brains were legendary in the Baker household.

"Yeah, well, you'd know all about being know-it-alls," replied Sarah. Kim glared.

"Could we just change the subject?" she asked.

"Motion carried," Mark laughed, sensing that generally most of them agreed with Kim.

"Hank got Nora _pregnant?_" gasped Jessica, incredulously.

"Um, yes."

"Argh, that's... urgh!"

"Mike," warned Tom, "don't be like that!"

"A baby doorknob," Lorraine said, "we could use it for one of Jessica's old Barbie houses!"

"That's not funny," hissed Nora.

"Witty for Lorraine, though," laughed Henry.

"When are they gonna grow up, Mom?" squealed Nora, storming out angrily. The others looked around, guiltily.

"See," seethed Tom (still secretly shocked and angry himself), "now look what you've all done!"

"Kids, come on, just go through and, play, or something, this isn't the time to play up your father or me."

They all obeyed, reeling from the news...

_Right_, thought Sarah, pulling on another outfit of her sisters' that she had smuggled from the clean washing. It was half past ten, and she was meeting Alex in 15 minutes. She puffed out her chest, and tried to fill herself with confidence. She was furious with herself when it wasn't working. "_What is wrong with me?_", she hissed to herself, before sneaking out of her room, being careful to be extra quiet outside Jake's part of the corridor, and lowering herself out of the window. Before long, she was at Alex's house. Her head was in a complete spin, but she just managed to get a really good look at the house. It was quite big, about a quarter of the size of the Baker house.

"Hi," Alex said, as he opened the door.

"Hey," Sarah replied.

"Come in," Alex replied, smiling smarmily.

"Uh, sure."

"You wanna come upstairs?"

'_Oh God oh God oh God!'_ thought Sarah, _'Now what?'_ Yet all she could come up with was:

"Yeah, OK."

And before she knew it, she was upstairs, sitting on the wooden chair next to his bed.

"What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno, talk?" she suggested naively.

"Yeah, OK. But I've got something much better in mind..."

Alex's face closed in as he came in for the kill. Sarah nudged him away.

"No, Alex," she mumbled, "please, not now."

"Come _on_," he rasped, cupping a hand under her small breast. She pushed his hand away.

"_Alex!_" she snapped, "It's way too soon, you can't expect this of me. This isn't going to be right!"

"Oh _stuff_ right, Sarah! Don't tell me you haven't been thinking about getting your leg over."

Alex was, in a sense, right. Since she had started going out with him, she had been vaguely wondering about how fast things would go. But this was getting out of hand. Alex started fiddling with her buttons, his short blondish-brown hair getting sweaty with excitement.

"No, Alex. No."

Alex looked at Sarah hungrily.

"You frigid little _cow._ Is this deliberate or something. Just leading me on and throwing me back when it gets too scary for the silly little girl?"

Sarah was horrified.

"What do you mean? You were moving _way_ too fast! I just didn't wanna, you know, do that with you."

Alex's face was red with fury, and, noting this, Sarah edged against the wall.

"Get out."

"What?"

Alex glared wildly at Sarah and swung his hand through the air, then slapped her face, hard.

"OW!" she yelled, tears filling up her eyes.

"You heard," he snarled, "get out of my sight. Get out of the house! I don't wanna see you again, you stupid little brat. I mean, what did I ever see in you? You don't have any tits, you don't have many friends, and you're only interested in yourself! I could kill you!"

Sarah got up and edged towards the door, tears streaming down her face.

"OUT!" he bellowed, jabbing her in the back. Sarah did not need telling again. She flew down the stairs, out of the cream front hall and out of the door, where she began walking briskly, and brushing the endless stream of tears off her face, she knew she had no choice but to go home.

Meanwhile, at the Baker house, Jake had indeed noticed that Sarah was missing. Tearing angrily at his hair, and cursing to himself under his breath, he worried more than ever about his sister, where she was, whether or not she was alright. He'd kill her when she got home...

About 2 blocks from home, Sarah sat down on a wall and cried her eyes out. _Why?_ she thought, _What did I do that was so terrible, and how am I self-centred in any way? Why did he hit me?_ The questions whizzed around Sarah's head in a blur, and more and more tears streamed down he face. She got up giddily, and continued home, not thinking, not knowing, how she'd get in and what she'd do when she got there...

There it was. It loomed up above her, same as ever, yet for some reason, this starry night, it looked different, in an unexplainable way. Shakily, Sarah slunk round the back, onto the tallest trash can, and yanked herself through the window. When she got up into the corridor, she stood still by her bedroom door. Jake was standing there, with no expression on his haggard face but sorrow, from seeing her distraught, tear-stained and bruised face. Sarah suddenly realised what she had done to her brother, what had happened to her, and broke down, sobbing, running into Jake's arms. Jake squeezed her tight, and neither or them said anything. No words were needed, both of them understood well enough.

"Sarah, sssh, c'mon," Jake whispered, worried that a parent or another sibling would hear them, "let's go to my room."

Sarah nodded, and as floppily as a cloth doll, allowed herself to be led into her brother's room...

It was 7 o'clock in the morning, and it had been a long night for Jake and Sarah. After both of them had calmed down, Jake wanted an explanation, and Sarah, after a little persuasion, gave him a very detailed one, through her tears. His fury grew with every word she uttered, and inside he swore bitter revenge on the unspeakable bastard who had treated his sister like this. Around one o'clock in the morning, Mark and Kim had woken up, overhearing a little of the conversation, and had come through to Jake's room. They were all up talking for a good deal of the early hours, comforting Sarah, and working out what to do, and had consequently all fallen huddled up to each other. When Tom and Kate came in in the morning after they couldn't find Sarah, Kim or Mark, their anger and worry melted. It looked like one of those adorable family paintings, and they fetched the rest of the family to see, cue a good deal of 'Awww's and 'Sweeeet's.

Now everybody was at breakfast, Sarah feeling a good deal better.

"Who wants Mike's waffle, guys?" Tom called.

"Why don't you want to eat, honey? Are you feeling OK? Have you taken your medicine?" Kate enquired anxiously.

"Yeah, I took it," he grumbled, a little red in the face, "and I'm _fine_, just lay off, Mom!"

Kate muttered something about the teenage years coming early to Mike and walked off, brandishing his adjourned waffle.

A little while later, the Bakers all went to school, and everything was peaceful, the drama over. At least until that very evening...


	6. Chapter 6

"Is everyone home, guys?"

"Yes, Dad," moaned Sarah, picking up a large piece of chocolate from the kitchen surface and tossing it into her mouth. "You know, it is 7 pm, wouldn't we all be at home?"

"Dad was just checking, Sarah," intervened Norah, smoothing her jacket. "Right, I'm uhh, I'm going to the clinic now, I'll be back a bit later."

"Sweetie?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Good luck."

Norah smiled and made her way out of the door, as Kate watched her sadly. She had known Norah was pregnant of course, but somehow it had only just hit her that this really was the end of an era.

"You OK?" chipped in Mark, snapping Kate out of her little dream world.

"Sure."

With that, the door slammed shut the _second_ time since Norah had gone.

"Who was that?"

"Charlie probably," Jessica replied, in a bored voice.

"Uhh, no, I'm here," called Charlie. Tom turned.

"Well who is it then?"

At that moment, Mike appeared in the doorway.

"Mike?"

"Don't start having a go at me, Mom."

"I wasn't going to, but… I want to know where you were."

"Leave it! I was just having a walk!"

"For three hours?" retorted Jake.

"FUCK OFF!" Mike screeched.

"Mike, will you PLEASE mind how you speak, and tell me what the hell is going on?"

Mike threw his father a murderous look, and tore back out of the door. Jake started to go after him.

"Leave him," said Kim quietly, stopping Jake with her arm, "I think he just wants to be left alone for a bit."

Kate bit her lip.

"Are you OK, Mom? I mean, you look kinda worried."

"Yeah, Nigel, I'm fine. I'm just concerned. Kids, um, has Mike seemed a little, tense to you lately?"

Cue quite a few shrugs.

"He's been kinda quiet," replied Jessica.

"I think maybe he's been a bit depressed, he's been a total little sod lately. Moaning and complaining and spending too much time on his own…"

"Really?" Kate enquired, her troubled expression now undeniable. "Oh… oh God, I hadn't even noticed. D'you think something's wrong, Tom?"

"I dunno, but I think someone should go after him." Tom answered, unlacing his trainers. "Take your mother's coat to the cupboard, Kyle." Kyle did so, with a vague mumble of complaint.

Mark shook his head.

"Leave it for a bit, he's probably only gone around the block. He'll be back being an idiot in here after no time."

At quarter past eight, Kate put her head around Kim's door.

"Is Mike anywhere?" Kim asked her mother.

Kate's mouth opened.

"You mean he's not back yet?"

Kim nervously searched herself for an image that Mike was curled up on the sofa, right as they spoke. She couldn't conjure it.

"I'll go look for him," she said hurriedly, leaping up off her bed before Kate could stop her.

As Kate explained where Kim had gone to the others, Kim pulled her coat over herself as she walked out of the front drive.

"Mike, are you here? Miii-iiike?"

Kim called out into the darkness. There was no reply.

"Little moron," she cursed, running a hand through her hair and walking more briskly around the lightless street. At the end of it, she called again.

"Mike? If you're here, would you just PLEASE come home? Mom's starting to get worried. And so am I."

No reply, yet again. Angrily, Kim started to jog along the rest of the road, glancing into the roads that turned off from it. No sign.

At last, as she glimpsed into Werlen Drive, she saw a small male figure, gently illuminated by a light inside a house.

"Mike?" He didn't answer. A little nervous, she ran over to him. It was indeed Mike.

"Mike?"

"What?" he retorted quietly, yet snappily.

"I've been looking everywhere for you."

"So?"

"Mike! I was worried! Everyone was!"

Mike started to walk away from her, further out of the Cul-De-Sac, approaching the bigger road.

"Where are you going?"

No reply. Exasperated, not to mention a little disconcerted, Kim ran over to her brother and grabbed his shoulder, swivelling him to look at her. Gazing at his face, she took a step back, nervous. His eyes were glazed over, like something out of a film, and he kept on and on blinking.

"What the hell? Mike, stop it, you're scaring me."

"Leave it," replied Mike, breathlessly. He staggered left out of Werlen Street. Kim, paralysed with confusion and shock and cold, stood still a second. Mike was gone.

"Come back, wouldya? Mike?"

Stepping left into the road, Kim witnessed the scene she would never forget. Mike was on the ground, shaking all over.

"Oh shit, oh shit shit shit," she moaned, tearfully, realising what was going on. "You're having a fit, Mike," she called, her voice wobbly. "Get out of the road! GET OUT OF THE ROAD!"

"Kim?" called two familiar voices from behind her. It was Sarah and Jake. Kim turned back to them as Jake began to babble.

"We were looking for you everywhere, what were you – Mike? What the fuck are you doing?" Mike was still shuddering violently, but was attempting to move out of the road a little. He was sitting up, shuffling his elbows and trying to alternate his weight between them. There were tears pouring from his eyes – still as glazed over as crystal - and his face was perfectly expressionless. It was an unsettling picture.

"We gotta move him," whimpered Kim, moving towards Mike, ashamed she had left it so long. Suddenly, came Sarah's voice, one single, yet ultimately powerful syllable, that would ring in Kim's mind for many years to come.

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" ……………..

None of them had really payed much heed to that all too famous actuality – that in a life or death moment, everything goes into slow motion. Nobody does, do they? One can only really appreciate when it actually happens. And Lord, did it happen.

The moment Sarah's scream ceased to be an actual scream, and at that became a sort of indistinct echo, her and Jake's immediate human instinct was to jump out of the way. The car was going at at least 30 miles an hour, and normally, had they been, say, standing on the paving stones down a big street, 30 miles an hour would have seemed almost sluggish for a passing car to be going at.

Things are very different when you are standing directly in front of that car.

Jake and Sarah flew sideways, back onto the pavement, shaking and drenched in a cold sweat. As this happened, Kim's mind turned to slime, and her knees became as weak as they ever had without actually giving way. The car was breaking as quickly as it had veered around the corner, the driver had naturally seen that a few feet ahead, there were 4 children in the middle of the road. The screeching noise didn't disturb Kim, a million thoughts were racing through her head, drowning it out. Perhaps it could be said that things were going more slowly for her than the others. She tugged at Mike, pulled him with all her might, but he didn't budge. Too confused and distressed to be scared, she stood still, her hand still gripping Mike's unresponsive hand.

"MOOOOOOVE!" screamed Sarah, tears surging down her cheeks. Jake simply stood rooted to the spot, his eyes as wide as saucers and a deathly, a nauseating feeling in his stomach.

Kim saw the headlights of the car coming towards her. Gradually, gradually, gradually. Finally, when the great glare of them could move no closer, her thoughts cut out, human instinct took over, and she tumbled to the side, out of the way.

The last thing she heard clearly, before she began to scream uncontrollably onto the tarmac, was the most heart-stopping noise she could ever have envisioned.

THUMP.


	7. Chapter 7

Any passer-by would agree that it was a haunting scene. The stationery car, with the frantic driver crying and tugging at her hair as she stepped out of the vehicle. A medium sized body sprawled on the ground in front of it. Two children, half-lying, green in the face, on the sidewalk, and another slightly further into the road, her head covered by her arms, screaming and screaming.

It was Kim's screaming that had alerted most people onto the scene. People started to lean out of their front doors, and when they noticed what had happened, they ran over, gazing in empathetic horror, asking questions, and trying but failing to help. It was actually Mrs Shenk, for all her bad qualities, who actually got down to calling 911. Bill Shenk went to see to Kim, Jessica and Jake, the latter of whom where a terrible shade of chartreuse and staring blankly ahead of them, unspeaking, and the former of whom was quite purely hysterical. A tall man with pale blonde hair and kind eyes ventured towards Mike and placed a hand across his chest.

"He's alive," he declared. "Just."

Jake had almost been in too much of a daze to pick up on this, but he did, and at this began to cry, at first just a few tears, falling silently, then a steady howl.

"What's going on?" called a familiar voice. Kim looked up from her arms, her face puffy and scarlet as though she had been crying for hours. She saw that the speaker was Charlie, and she started to cry hysterically again as she ran to him.

"Charlie!" she screamed, flying into his arms, crying more and more. Charlie held his sister, and with a horrible squirm in his stomach, he leaned a over towards the scene. He couldn't quite make out the……………

His eyes widening into saucers, rather like Jessica, and Jake, who was now almost as hysterical as Kim, he ran backwards, dropping his sister, towards his parents and a few siblings who were now arriving on the scene. He broke the confusion for them.

"Mom, Dad," he cried as he came back over, "the – the car h..h..hit Mike."

As the sick reality of this hit everyone, Kate stood perfectly still for a moment, then glanced over at the car and began to scream. She ran over to her son's huddled form and knelt by it, crying into her hands. Tom ran over to his wife and held her shoulders, staring blankly ahead.

Jessica started to howl, and ran to Henry, who put his arms around her, staring ahead, going a particularly awful depth of white. Lorraine absorbed the scene quicker than all of her siblings, oddly, and ran to where her parents were crouching, and standing behind them, started, like all the others, to cry, except she did not cover her face, she just stood there, her face soaking wet and crumpled.

All the others reacted similarly, either starting to sob, or staring blankly ahead. A couple of minutes later, the ambulance arrived, and a tall, stockily built woman with light brown hair stepped out of it and over to the car.

"Go and check the boy, Jack," she said to the paramedic standing next to her. "Step back please, please everybody, you'll need to get out of the way, we'll handle it from here."

People scattered, still staring worriedly at the body in front of the car.

"He's alive," Jack announced, "but," he began more quietly to the paramedic woman, "his pulse is getting weaker, we need to get him to the hospital quickly or he isn't going to stand a chance."

One of the other paramedics, a young man with big, dark eyes and bronze skin, went over to Kim, who it had been established had been there at the scene at the time of the accident.

"What happened?" he asked her soothingly, putting an arm around her, "I know it's difficult," he said, as Kim continued to cry hysterically, "but you'll need to tell me if we're going to make him better."

Kim glanced up and saw Mike was on a stretcher, being loaded into the ambulance. She tried to stop weeping, she choked on her tears and coughed until they had subsided enough for her to talk.

"He…. He had an epileptic seizure when he was in the road, J-J-Jake and Jess..ica and I went to him, and a car came around the corner, and… I tried to move him in time but I couldn't….. it's all my faaulllt…." She moaned, the tears appearing again. The kind paramedic gave Kim a hug then said to her.

"It's not your fault, honestly, it isn't, you mustn't blame yourself. How many siblings do you have?"

"There are 12 of us in all," Kim whimpered.

"Woah. OK, well we're definitely not going to get all of you in the ambulance, OK? So, if your parents go with your brother, and your older brother and sister, is there anyone to look after you?"

At this point, Mr Kershaw, the new neighbour, stepped forward.

"I'm their neighbour. We can take them to the hospital in the truck, if you want," he said warmly.

"This is your neighbour, is it Kim?"

Kim nodded hurriedly, tears spilling down her face.

"OK, that's great," the paramedic replied. "Now," he continued, turning to and a few of the others, "I need you all to go with him, then you can all get to the hospital."

Stephanie went over to Jessica, who was still staring expressionlessly in front of her, and put an arm around her, leading her towards the truck parked up the road. Jessica, as limp as a ragdoll, allowed herself to be lead, her head straining towards the ambulance now departing, where Mike, Kate, Tom, Charlie and Lorraine were now.

Slowly, the Baker children managed to gather, as the Kershaws helped them kindly towards their rented truck.

After they were all inside, and on the way to the hospital, Jessica spoke, her expression and her voice completely monotone and vacant.

"Someone's got to call Norah," she voiced simply. Mark looked up from his lap, his face tear-stained and crimson. He fumbled miserably in his pocket for the phone, pulled it out, and pressed Speed Dial 4. He blinked fast as he waited for an answer. Each tone seemed to last an hour……

…………"Norah?"


End file.
